Sercotel Coliseo Bilbao

BAD: The hotel information in the guest legend was not correct. They didn’t have any shaving kits or vanity kits. Late check-out wasn’t available (however this is STA so we understand). No loyalties were recognized - neither Sercotel Rewards nor Choice Hotels. GOOD: Hotel staff extremely nice, courteous, professional and welcoming. All spoke good English. Good breakfast with a good price if you order in advance. Spacious, well-appointed and clean rooms. Good location. Convenient arrival and connection to public transport and for pedestrians to the old city. Easy and seamless check-in and check-out as well as luggage storage. Once again, really nice reception team. All in all, what takes away from the five stars is just that the loyalty wasn’t mentioned, and that they didn’t have the amenities we needed along with the guest legendary needing to be updated.

Our stay wasn't great. The main reason was that our dog (a 3kg, really well-behaved dog) wasn't allowed at breakfast, and nobody told us that when we checked in. Then, the following morning, when we went to breakfast before heading to a conference, we had a very unpleasant situation at breakfast, when we were loudly told that our dog couldn't be here, after we had already grabbed the food and everything. Then, we had to leave. One of us waited at the reception with our dog, and the other ate quickly, and then we switched. The following day, we took turns to have breakfast, as dogs aren't allowed to be alone in the room either. Considering we had a limited 45-min shift on weekends and that the coffee machines kept breaking, it was rather inconvenient and rushed for us. This is the first time this has happened to me in 6 years of travelling all over Europe with my dog (we've been on many trips, 12 different countries and dozens of hotels, countless restaurants, including Michelin-starred ones, it's not like my dog is not used to this situation and can't behave, she's excellently behaved, super clean, and polite). Dog-friendly hotels in Europe, and Spain, allow dogs in the hotel's eating outlets (examples of Spanish hotels that do this: Hoxton Barcelona, Moxy Barcelona, Plácido y Grata Sevilla) because if you're not going to allow that, simply don't allow dogs at all. It's not cheap to have a dog with you (I paid 50€ for 2 nights), so I'd expect to have a normal stay. A small, reserved area in your breakfast buffet zone could work if you don't want to allow them everywhere. Or simply don't be a dog-friendly hotel that isn't dog-friendly in reality. Many hotels don't allow dogs, and that's fine. At a minimum, we should have been informed of this at check-in so we could have removed the breakfast from our reservation and gone outside to eat at one of the many places in Bilbao that allow dogs inside, instead of having to take turns and go through an unpleasant situation. This was my first time at the Sercotel chain, and it'll be the last.

Lovely clean hotel in a great location. Slightly disappointing the lack of tea/coffee making facilities in the room. The hotel also stated they had a hotel bar. This is not true it was just a small counter next to where breakfast is served in the morning. Would have been nice to have had a bar to come back to after a long day or have a drink before dinner at night.